Thursday, August 30, 2018

Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Christo Aivalis discusses the future of organized labour and the need for workplace democracy in an era of increased automation:

New organizing models
and shorter workdays are both viable solutions to address the struggles
of encroaching automation, but neither strike to the heart of the
matter that AI exposes. In our current capitalist system, the politics
of automation are inherently adversarial, because while productivity
increases and cost savings are consistently sought by owners, managers,
and shareholders, the workers themselves don’t want to be displaced from
the job that provides them their livelihood. Historically, many workers
and socialists have acknowledged the immense social value automative
processes have had in eliminating the most tedious and dangerous of
jobs, meaning that we can shift our human resources in more productive
and fulfilling directions. But automation driven primarily by profit
motives serves to further concentrate power and wealth, making our
society more unequal, and our democracy more imperilled.
Even things like the basic income guarantee may fail to solve this
issue, because putting the masses of people on mere subsistence incomes
while an increasingly small number of owners and technical workers reap
riches is more likely to lead to Elysium than to a just society.

So the rise of AI may
well provide the conditions for a reinvigorated challenge to
capitalism. Unions must not only bargain for better wages and
conditions, but must push for mechanisms that give workers greater say
in the direction of their workplaces, and a greater share of the value
derived from actions which have traditionally served to unemploy them.
But beyond bargaining, labour must align with politicians seeking to
democratize workplaces and the wider economy by increasing the
proportion of our economy owned not by capitalists, but by cooperatives
and the public. If we are indeed at the precipice of a new industrial
era, the only way to ensure 90 per cent or more of the population isn’t
permanently marginalized from economic life is to demand that our
democratic levers extend into the operation of industry. Put another
way: in the automated age, democracy will need socialism.

- Wojciech Keblowski makes the case to abolish fares for transit to maximize the public good it can achieve. And Ricardo Tranjan discusses the crucial role of public service employment as a matter of both economic and social development.

- Maude Barlow and Sujata Dey offer a reminder that Canada can do just fine without NAFTA. Jerry Dias implores the Trudeau government to be willing to walk away from NAFTA negotiations if the Trump administration is being as reckless and heavy-handed as it appears. And Brent Patterson wonders whether an even worse NAFTA might serve as the impetus for a more fundamental challenge to elite-driven capitalism.

- Carlyn Zwarenstein writes about the value of harm reduction as a response to addictions issues. And Liam Britten reports that in keeping with its stellar early returns in managing British Columbia's public resources, John Horgan's government is suing opioid manufacturers for their harm maximization model of drug distribution.

- Finally, Bashir Mohamed highlights why birthright citizenship - and the associated recognition that no person should be treated as illegal or without status - is important for all Canadians.